This blog was originally intended to be the home for my dark age Britain project but on completion I found blogging such a great inspiration to complete stuff, that I just naturally continued. Please note that as a result of persistent spamming any comments are moderated . Sorry

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Monday, 22 February 2016

Da Nubes did well

Over the weekend we played our planned big game over 3 tables in the region of Bavaria south of the Danube. We selected three regions in the areas of Landshut, Ratisbon and Ingolstadt. Apart from the troops involved it was in no way historical .We fielded 12 corps in all all of which featured in play. Two of our five players had never played Blucher before and as the title says "Da Nubes" did well. I can safely say the thunder on the Danube went better than planned. We played on three tables all connected by road systems and completed three full days of game time. Landshut fell after a day and half of spirited defence by the Bavarian divison who delayed the joining of the Austrian forces and held 2 Austrian corps at bay. I managed a few photos on the first and second game days but after that it was so frenetic I couldn't keep up. We fought four major battles and had an awful lot of fun and laughter. The unforgettable moment of the game occurred when the Bavarian division commander who sat hiding behind the Isaar and his semi fortress of Landshut making rude noises at the Austrians on the far bank spotted a new unit enter the board. When he realised the unit had boats and planks on wagons he asked if they were pontoons and then spluttered and complained that there were no rules for pontoons in the rulebook. There are now!!!!!

Below you can see the handful of pictures I took with some explications . Apologies for not taking more.

These show Landshut on the first and second day. On the left we see the slow approach of the Austrian fourth corps while the Bavarians decamp to prepared positions.

In these shots we see the afternoon of the first day with the Austrian's 4th corps in position to assault the south bank while the newly arrived third corps cover the building of their pontoons to the east. This took us to late afternoon. During the night the Austrians crossed the bridges they had built and prepared for an assault to the south and the north at first light. By mid day the Bavarians with some damage took the road north to Ratisbon with the third corps close behind.

This completed the action at Landshut and the Austrians would pay dearly for both their slow preparations and the stubborn Bavarian defence. On the late afternoon of the second day the fourth corps reorganised and began the western march that would bring them to the Ingolstadt area on the late afternoon of the third day. Third corps pursuing the Bavarians would arrive at Ratisbon to find the fifth corps and the cavalry in disarray after a drubbing on the second day by a single French corps.

At Ratisbon the Austrian first cavalry corps arrived in the early evening to find the find Lannes's second corps arriving at the town and crossing the river in some disarray. Disdaining to camp for the night and await the arrival of fifth corps, the grenadiers and cuirassiers launched themselves at the German contingents and found them a tough nut to crack. Badly hurt, the corps retired and took up positions alongside the now positioned fifth corps to await the new day.

On day two the Austrians hurled themselves at second corps and broke. The hail of artillery and infantry fire they received from the mainly Bavarian troops shattered their attack and forced them off the board to the east to re organise and prepare to return to the fray. Lannes refused to follow and after receiving news of the Austrians passing of the Isaar at Landshut prepared to meet the refreshed Austrians plus any enemy corps coming from Landshut. Having sent the Bavarians back down the road to Ingolstadt he prepared for a heroic defence on the third day. Day three saw the Austrians advance time and time again only to be repulsed . The last attack took place at last light as the fresh third corps arrived in the area to find his fellow countrymen bloodied and fatigued after a hard days fighting. Indeed although being outnumbered the French were better prepared for the possible conflict on the following and fourth day.

On the evening of day two the Austrian sixth corps arrived expecting to find the victorious troops from Landshut and hopefully some of the corps from Ratisbon in position for the attack. The field was bare apart from the French who were beginning to gather at Ingolstadt . The town was held by the third of the Bavarian divisions and at dawn the first of Massena's fourth corps were beginning to cross the river. By the afternoon the Austrians were informed of the advance from Landshut of their fourth corps and they could see more enemy arriving from the north on the far bank of the Danube ( the Saxons) . With this news the Austrians decided to attack Massena before he could form his defence. The fighting with the confederation troops was hard and the Austrians were forced back slowly towards the arriving Austrian fourth corps. As evening came on the third day the Saxons were across the river and the Austrian morale fell further as they heard of the Ratisbon defeat but they decided to reform during the night and align with the Austrian fourth corps. The last straw came at dusk on the third day when the sound of cheering announced the arrival of Napoleon and the guard at the outskirts of Ingolstadt. The Austrians decided it was time to prepare for the long march back to Vienna.

To sum up, it is a shame we had no good photographic record of the day but on the other hand I found myself very tired but extremely satisfied at the close of Saturdays play. Would I do it again? Possibly but not for a few months. heheheh On Sunday I relaxed with a game of "Muskets and tomahawks", a game I had never played before. I liked it very much. Watch this space hahahah

3 comments:

Reminds me very much of our Snappy Nappy "Campaign in a Day" events, not surprisingly. Were the tables in different roms or otherwise not in direct sight of one another? Sounds like it was well worth it, and like Blucher is well suited to this kind of thing.Were there Hessians and Badeners among the CoR troops?

It would only be fair to say that your snappy nappy games were the inspiration for this event. The only constraint on the number of tables was the low number of players. The tables were in the same hall but separated. Massena's IVth corps contained two brigades of Hessians and two of Badeners plus a cavalry brigade containing the two contingents. I am a great fan of snappy nappy but Blucher is the groups rules of choice. To make Blucher fit the bill I introduced rules such as faster road movement and pontoon trains etc. but apart from that it certainly did the job.

Thanks! The scale of Blucher is similar to SN, as best I can tell, so the same overall concepts should work, and if it's the rules of choice for the majority it makes sense to go with it. Good job, and excellent excuse to use the Hessians and Badeners!!

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about me

I'm a happily retired veteran wargamer. We have lived here in Cataluña for some 30 odd years. I seldom have live opponents and am quite happy to game solo in all and every period or scale that takes my fancy